Canepa: Brees likely will break Unitas’ TD mark vs. Bolts

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees passes during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Houston Texans in New Orleans, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012. The Saints won 34-27. (AP Photo/Bill Feig)— AP

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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees passes during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Houston Texans in New Orleans, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012. The Saints won 34-27. (AP Photo/Bill Feig)
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It’s difficult to determine if it’s a horde or a clutch of Drew Brees agnostics, those who aren’t true believers, those who see him as a phony. I do not belong to either group. Can’t say there’s any real reason to dislike the guy — unless he happens to be beating your team’s brains in.

Drew Brees is Drew Brees, gunslinger. Strong-willed. Totally self-assured. In charge. Never met a job he couldn’t win. Never met a football team he couldn’t beat. Fearless. Doesn’t really care what you think. The only thing the New Orleans Saints quarterback lacks is prototypical height, and that’s never stopped him from fulfilling all the tall orders asked of him.

I can’t say I’ve met an athlete who believed more in himself than Brees, even when things went poorly for him as a Charger in 2003, when he was benched in favor of 38-year-old Doug Flutie. I certainly didn’t treat him kindly during that period, but he never told me to take a hike. He always manned-up.

The Chargers drafted Philip Rivers in 2004 because Drew had not been good. Did he concede the position to Rivers? Well, Brees not only kept the starting job, he went to the Pro Bowl. That he eventually was forced to leave as a free agent — the Chargers had $40 million invested in Rivers and couldn’t afford two No. 1s — seemed to be OK with him. He had injured his throwing shoulder and, other than the Chargers (whose bid was far from adequate), only the Saints offered him good dough.

So he went to New Orleans to become one of the most prolific passers in NFL history, and along the way won himself a Super Bowl. And he has become a god in his post-Katrina adopted town (he remains a San Diegan in the offseason), where he has done so much for the community off the field. On it, he and the Saints rallied the city from its terrible fate.

If (more like when) Brees throws a touchdown pass Sunday night against the Chargers in the Superdome, he will have thrown one in 48 straight games, breaking the cherished record set by Johnny Unitas. This week, Unitas’ son, Joe, sent an email to Brees congratulating him not only on tying his dad’s record, but for all he’s done for New Orleans.

“It was an extremely classy move and totally unexpected,” Brees was saying via conference call Wednesday afternoon. “To know that the family is rooting for me and our team during this time with this record, it means a lot.”

Brees will be a Hall of Famer, and if he throws touchdowns in 90 straight games, good for him. But the game is so much different now than when Unitas played, when receivers were manhandled all the way down field. Plus, Drew has played over half his games in domes. I’m not saying it’s a bogus record — Brees has no control over rules or venues — but it was tougher in 1960, not much doubt about that.

Still, when it comes to numbers, Brees can stack them like no one else. A year ago he completed 71 percent of his passes for an NFL-record 5,476 yards (3.1 miles) and 46 touchdowns. Over his career, he has passed for 42,092 yards and 291 touchdowns.

But his Saints, stunned — some say rudderless — since Commissioner Roger Goodell put the hammer down on Bountygate, are 0-4. Brees seems to be just finding his touch. He threw for 446 yards and three scores in last Sunday’s difficult loss to Green Bay.

Drew Brees is not an 0-4 quarterback. If it’s eating at him, and it has to be, he isn’t showing it. He is the anchor of a foundering ship. Not everyone has given up on the Saints. Vegas oddsboys make them 3½-point favorites over the 3-1 Chargers, who quite likely will find themselves in a shootout.

“Obviously, it’s frustrating and disappointing and it’s certainly not like the team I feel we have,” Brees said. “I don’t think that it represents the talent, the work ethic and the character of this team.”

I asked Brees, who has been very outspoken on the bounty matter, flat out if he feels the Saints have been screwed by the NFL.

“You know the answer I want to give,” he said. “I don’t feel the process was a fair one. It wasn’t done the right way. Has there been proof brought forth that would prove that some of these people were involved in a pay-to-injure scheme? It sounds like there were a lot of lines that were blurred.”

What isn’t blurred is Drew Brees’ confidence. Every game is the OK Corral and the gunslinger keeps firing away, casualties be damned.